Grand piano design - parallel vs angled strike line?

[Brian Trout]

Hi Ron,

I can't offer more than a simple opinion, but I will.

It comes to my mind that perhaps the reasons for the angling of the hammer
line might have come from trying to design what they thought was a good
belly (string scale, bridge location / layout, etc.) as they might have been
thinking 100 years ago.  It would tend to give some more room up there in
the top end to fan those strings off to the right a bit, especially if they
were concerned with a rear duplex scale.  Action geometry was probably more
of an afterthought.

That being said, I think you are much more correct in thinking that a
smaller area between the bridge and the outer rim area is a more desirable
design, functionally speaking.  (I'd rather let others comment further if
they'd like on this one.)

I suspect that the angled hammer line is one of those 'design features'
that's a holdover from the "that's the way it's always been done, so that's
the way we build 'em" era.   And another thing that came to mind...  How
often is a piano actually _designed_ to be easier for the tuner to tune?
Sounds more like marketing to me.

Just some random thoughts from the peanut gallery.

(And thanks for bringing it up.  We needed a new topic!)

Best wishes,

Brian Trout
Quarryville, PA
btrout@desupernet.net